Graveyard shift
by blockofthewritingkind
Summary: Hirokazu and friends are playing seance in the local cemetary. Before he leaves, Kazu investigates a sound and finds a cute young boy crying. At first he dismisses it and comforts the boy, but then strange things start happening. And why can't the others
1. Chapter 1

**I don't believe me! This is like, the millionth story I've started! I haven't even finished any of my others! sighes Oh well, at least I picked an appropriate Pen Name…….. **

**WARNING: This is AU, btw, and if you don't like yaoi, you are homophobic, and don't feel all warm and fuzzy inside when two boys tell each other how much they love each other and then kiss and such, the little green arrow is the thing you will wish to push. You have been warned, so don't come crying to me about how offended you are. I will show you no sympathies. ALSO if you happen to be offended by mentions of the occult or witchcraft, go the same way as the homophobes. Flames yummy s'mores. Characters will also be OOC. Thank you for your time.**

"A séance, Hirokazu?" Lee raised an eyebrow while Takato tried to hide his snickers behind his hand. Hirokazu chose to ignore all of this as he tossed the wooden board in his hand into the air, catching it deftly as it fell to the earth again.

"Why not?" He demanded. "We have nothing else to do. Besides, we've got this!" He brandished the Ouija board at them. "You never know! What if we're contacted by restless spirits of the dead!" Takato shifted, peering at the board with a mixture of amusement and curiosity on his face.

"I don't know 'Kazu. Do you really thing it would work?"

"No." Hirokazu snatched the board away and stuffed it in his bag. "But if anyone else has a better idea as to how to spend our Friday night _this time_, I'm all ears, because honestly, if I have to spend one more night at the arcade or the movies, I'm going to kill someone, just to see what jail is like."

Takato and Lee didn't laugh. Hirokazu was just the kind of person to do something crazy like that.

Jumping of the table he had been seated on, Hirokazu slung his bag over his shoulder, giving them a two finger salute over his shoulder.

"Tell Ruki and Ryo for me. Anyone who's not to chicken can show up at the cemetery tonight at ten."

Takato and Lee looked at each other when Hirokazu had disappeared from site.

"He gets stranger by the day." Lee commented. Takato simply nodded.

"We'll have to be on the lookout for his tricks tonight. I have no doubt that he'll try and scare us." Lee nodded and with that, they both turned and left, not even thinking about refusing the other boy's suggestion, for all their teasing. He was right; It's not like they had anything better to do after all.

**Ten O' Clock P.M. on the Dot, the Old Cemetery**

"So everyone's here!" Hirokazu had a manic glint in his eye as he watched the four other people gather around the circle of candles he had set up below him, making sure to stay out of site in the huge old cedar tree he had climbed.

The night breeze was gentle and it carried the scents that would be long gone by day. Hirokazu loved night time. And it was peacefully quiet here. He figured maybe he should consider coming here when his parents fought. It was a lot better then the rest of the city which was noisy and smelled like exhaust and fast food restaurants.

"Where is that creep. He sets the time for this stupid rendezvous, and then he's late!" Taking that as his cue, Hirokazu hooked his legs over the branch he was sitting on and swung backwards, just as Ruki was saying "When he gets here, I'm going to-!"

"Going to what?" Hirokazu laughed as Takato squeaked, Lee started slightly and Ryo blinked slowly at him. Riku, however, grabbed the laughing boy by his collar and drug him bodily out of the tree, releasing him as he hit the ground with at thud.

"Owww! Hey, that was just mean you know? You guys are the ones that kept me waiting, you know?" Riku cuffed him on the back of his head.

"You're the one that got here early, and if you don't get on with this stupid game of yours, I'm leaving!"

Rubbing his head and muttering, Hirokazu cast the girl a baleful glare as he moved to sit Indian style in front of the board in the center of the circle of multi-colored candles. The others silently followed his suit.

"We all gotta hold hands." He said, not at all happy to be sitting to the left of Riku. He did, however, note the blush that spread across her face as she took Ryo's hand in her own. Takato and Lee's own matching crimson stains on his right also did not go unnoticed.

_"Hmmmm, blackmail."_ He thought as he watched in amusement and slight longing. _"I'm glad that never happens to me."_ He added for good measure.

"Ok, now we all need to close our eyes and concentrate." He said, slipping his own eyes shut. He took a deep breath and recited what he had heard the psychic at the fair chant out.

"Oh spirit, trapped in this world of flesh and blood,

Be not afraid of us.

Let us know the reason of your confinement to this world.

Let us offer you our worldly help.

For a moment nothing happened. They all sat with their eyes squeezed shut, listening in anticipation despite themselves. After a few seconds of hooting owl and happily chirruping, They all peeked first through their lashes, then, upon encountering no hovering white bed sheet, or ghoulish, rotting, blood dripping, transparent apparition, they fully opened their eyes to stare at one another in accusing embarrassment at having ever participated in something as childish as this. They immediately dropped hands.

Just as Ruki was opening her mouth to deliver some scathing comment about their choice of nightly activities, a sudden gust of wind rushed through their little group, extinguishing the candle flames and leaving them in complete darkness. So sudden was their emersion in the impenetrable blackness, that Takato squawked and jumped, landing on something warm and squishy that said "oomph" in Lee's voice, and Ruki was half way finished reaching once again for Ryo's hand before she realized what she was doing and stopped, reaching instead for the flash light she had laid by her leg earlier.

"Well, that was unexpected." Hirokazu said with a shaky laugh once they could all see again. Takato blushed and climbed gingerly out of an equally red Lee's lap as Ruki snorted and Ryo laughed.

"What ever. I've had enough of this crap. I'm outta here." She said, standing. Like one, they all rose with her, turning to leave as she did.

After about three steps in the direction of the exit, Hirokazu stopped, catching a soft, almost nonexistent sound on the breeze. It was then that he noticed that, sans the sound he was now straining to catch, the soft footfalls of the others growing further and further away, and the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze, all other sounds had silenced.

" 'Kazu? What are you doing?" Takato's voice invaded his hearing, and for a moment he was afraid that he would loose the soft sound he was straining to hear. But as the sound of the other's footsteps stopped and Takato's voice faded away, he could still hear it. He cocked his head curiously in the direction.

"Don't you guys hear that?" He asked softly.

"Hear what?" In the near dead silence, Lee's quiet voice was like a shout. Hirokazu waved his hand in an impatient "be quiet!" gesture.

"The crying!" he whispered back. When they just gave him blank looks, he elaborated. "We're not the only one's here! Someone is crying! Can't you hear it!"

"Very funny 'Kazu. We're not falling for it." Ruki said in an annoyed voice. Hirokazu blinked at them.

"Pardon?" Lee rolled his eyes.

"We're not going to fall for one of your stupid pranks and let you scare us all half to death. Again." Hirokazu just continued to stare at them, keeping track of the soft sobbing to his right all the while.

"You really don't hear it?" He asked after a few seconds of silence had passed. It was pretty soft, but surely now, with all the sudden silence…… Now they were all looking at him in concern.

"All we hear is the wind and the owls and the crickets, and your insane chattering." Ruki sniffed, turning her back on them and casting them into darkness again as she pointed her flashlight in the opposite direction. The others followed quickly. All but Hirokazu, who stuck his tongue out at her back.

The moon was out enough that he could make out basic shapes, and he had a flashlight of his own, which he now pulled out, walking instead in the direction the sobbing was coming from, tracing the soft sound carefully. It sounded louder as he drew nearer to the center of the graveyard, and as he passed a rather tall row of angels and crosses, he spotted, in a rather bright beam of moonlight, a small, huddled figure sitting at the base of a duel headstone.

Approaching slowly so he wouldn't startle what he could now see was a boy about his age, sitting head on knees, arms wrapped around his shins, sobbing softly, Hirokazu slowly with drew the handkerchief his mom made him carry from his coat pocket.

"Hey." He said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. The boy's head snapped up, glasses and pale skin both catching the moonlight and Hirokazu's flashlight beam and making him appear to glow gently in the dark. A steady flow of shimmering tears made their way down both cheeks. His eyes were wide and his mouth open in surprise.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Hirokazu apologized quickly, dropping to his knees in front of the boy, offering the handkerchief to the boy, who took it hesitantly while still staring at him like he had two heads and a couple dozen noses. Seeing that the boy wasn't going to say anything, Hirokazu continued as gently as he could.

"So, what are you doing here so late at night? Aren't your parents worried about you?" he asked. This seemed to wake the boy from his shock slightly, though his voice was dazed when he answered.

"What about you? _Your_ parents probably aren't going to be to happy to find you gone." Hirokazu winced.

"My parents wouldn't notice if I threw myself off the roof of an apartment complex." he said with a laugh. A pained expression came over the boy's face and he hurried to continue the conversation on a different subject.

"So do you come out here often? I don't blame you. It's nice here. Quiet. Peaceful. You would expect a graveyard to be creepy, you know?" The boy let out a shy smile, small, but still there. His tears had almost stopped, just the occasional one rolling gently down his cheeks. Emboldened, Hirokazu was about to say something when the other boy beat him to it.

"I live here." Hirokazu blinked, his train of though derailing for a moment.

"Huh?" The boy's smile widened fractionally.

"You asked if I came here often. I live here." he repeated. His voice had lost it's dazed quality, but he still sounded like he only half believed Hirokazu was talking to him.

_"He must be ignored a lot in school or something. A nerd? He has the look of it, all clean cut and the huge glasses. Not that they don't make him look cute. Like an anime character."_ He thought with something of a smile.

"You must be the caretaker's kid." He said out loud. The boy blinked up at him blankly. Or maybe not then. "Well, anyway," He continued "the name is Hirokazu, you can call me Kazu if you want. I think that if you hang out around here a lot, we're going to run into each other. It seems like a great place to come and relax, and I think I'll take advantage of it." he winked as the other boy took his hand and shook it. "I'll be quiet as the dead, so don't worry. You don't find may places like this. And you are?"

"Kenta…." Now the boy looked vaguely worried about something, but Hirokazu simply dismissed it.

"Well Kenta, I'll be seeing you." He stood and walked off towards the entrance, calling over his shoulder "By the way, you need to go home. Your hands are freezing!" And then he disappeared behind the towering Angels and crosses.

Kenta continued to stare at the place he had been standing blankly until a gentle hand on his shoulder made him jerk his head around.

"Juri." He breathed. "You startled me." The red head standing next to him smiled apologetically before her expression turned curious.

"Were you and that boy just _talking!_" She demanded. Kenta's expression turned dazed again.

"Yea. I don't believe it! He could **_see me!"_** he looked up at Juri, delight crossing his face. "**_He could see me! _** And he's coming back! He said so!" Then his expression turned to bewilderment. "But I though the living couldn't see the dead? So _how _could he see me?" Juri shrugged.

"I've been at this deceased thing as long as you have, remember? I'm still a little fuzzy on the rules too." There was a pause. "What do you mean "he's coming back"? You know there are people around here who won't like that." Kenta winced and looked back at where Hirokazu had been standing a little while before.

"Yea….." He said softly.

**TBC**

Me: I really need to stop posting stories with chapters. If you like it, tell me and I'll write more.


	2. Chapter 2

Me: Konichiwa! Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I was working on my fic "Chance Meetings". Also, I own Digimon not, I simply have the imagination behind the plot. So, no suing please. All you would get is a cracked egg and a month old PB&J with a black Banana. And thirty five cents.

True to his word, Hirokazu did indeed stop by the cemetery that very next day. He had been chewed out by his mother ( who was surprisingly sober) for being home late, and his father hadn't come home at all until around seven that morning.

Then the fighting had begun.

Again.

So now here he was, once again seeking refuge from the shouting and slapping and hateful words, accompanied by the sounds of breaking glass and other things, and doors slamming and swear words flying.

Here, it was peaceful and beautiful, the sun shinning gently through the leaves of the many shade trees that were scattered around, the birds sitting in their gently swaying limbs, trilling out their tunes in a way the tells you that this was a day for song. They weren't singing to talk, but for the sheer pleasure of it, and it calmed Hirokazu's mind, which, up until now, had been whirling in an angry haze directed towards his parents.

He took in a deep breath of the sweet summer air and released it slowly. So what if his parents usually forgot he existed, unless they had something to complain about. So what if he ended up, on more than one night, slipping out of his room hours after his father had slammed the door for the final time that night to drag his boozed-up mother to bed. Here, none of that mattered. No one here cared, and so he shouldn't either.

Jumping up and catching the limb of the tree he had hid in the night before, Hirokazu pulled himself back to his former perch. Here, in the bright daylight, he could see all around the grassy knolls and small, mini-valleys filled with white and grey stones, small and large alike. He smiled and pulled out a small sketch pad. He would never let anyone know of his love of drawing. It was a secret he would carry to his grave.

Drawing a few strokes with his charcoal pencil, he sighed happily and was soon lost to the living as he captured the world he had become so enamored with on his paper to remember forever.

He didn't reenter reality until his stomach growled loudly, interrupting his wondering thoughts and reminding him that he had skipped out on breakfast. Chuckling slightly to himself, he put his sketch pad and pencil away, and was about to hop out of his tree when a movement caught his eye.

Turning his head, he blinked at the object in front of him for a moment before it hit him what it really was.

Sitting innocently on the limb in front of him, where it most _ defiantly_ hadn't been before, was his handkerchief, spotless and neatly folded. He looked around quickly, searching for Kenta. But the other boy was nowhere in site. Shrugging slightly uneasily, he picked the white piece of cloth up and stuck it in his pocket, hopped the rest of the way out of the tree and headed for the entrance to the cemetery.

Kenta watched the boy from the night before, Hirokazu, slip from the tree, handkerchief tucked away safely back in his pocket, and head for the entrance to the cemetery. The other boy hadn't been able to see him that time. Not that he was surprised.

Kenta frowned around the trunk of the tree he was standing behind. As much as he hated the thought, Juri was right. 'Kazu really shouldn't come back any more. It just wasn't safe. Not for a live person, anyway, like the brown haired boy.

"Hey squirt, wha'cha doing?" Kenta gasped an unneeded breath softly, whirling around to come face to chest with the apparition who had decided to sneak up on him.

"Ahh….uh….D-Dan! You startled me!" Kenta squeaked, for lack of any other train of thought going through his head. Dan laughed, brushing transparent black curls out of his shimmering onyx eyes.

"I could see that." He laughed. Kenta didn't like his laugh. It made him shiver unpleasantly. "So where's your girlfriend?" He continued conversationally. Kenta frowned.

"Juri's not here." He said. Then as an after thought "And she's not my girlfriend." Dan raised an eyebrow, smile never leaving his face.

"Really? But the two of you died together." Kenta flinched.

"Yea, I kind of know that." He snapped. Now that he had recovered his wits, he was very annoyed with the spirit in front of him. He had never been fond of people (and ghosts counted in this too) sneaking up behind him.

"No need to get short…." Dan leaned over him, displaying the fact that he was a head and a half taller than he. "Shorty!" He smirked.

"Oh, clever." Kenta said with a roll of his eyes. "Please forgive me for not sticking around, but I think I left a toaster or something on." Lame excuse delivered, he faded away, leaving Dan alone, still smirking. He held up a small sketch pad, looking at the well proportioned, carefully detailed sketches covering the pages.

"He'll be missing this." He said to no one in particular. "I wonder where I should leave it for him to find." And then he, too, faded into nothingness, the small notebook in hand.

_An Intersection Somewhere a Few Blocks From the Cemetery_

Hirokazu looked behind him for what had to be the millionth time since leaving the cemetery. He had that creepy crawly feeling he got when someone was watching him. He had chalked it up at first to it just being his nerves. After all, when your handkerchief suddenly showed up in front of you all by it's self with no sign of the boy you had leant it to, it was pretty disturbing. He snorted. Sure it was. And there was an alternate universe somewhere that was home to a variety of digital monsters or something. Just a bunch of bull shit.

"'Kazu!" Turning back around, he waved back to the exuberant looking Takato as the boy drug an indifferent looking Lee down the sidewalk towards him.

"Hey chumly. What's up?"

"Nuthen but the sky!" came the overly enthusiastic response. Hirokazu gave Lee a look that was a mixture between board and accusing.

"You gave him coffee or some other form of caffeine, didn't you?" Lee shrugged.

"He wouldn't get outta bed." He said in half hearted self-defense. 'Kazu was willing to bet the Lee didn't mind how hyper the smaller boy was anyway, if the way Takato had his and in a death grip and was clinging to him like a leach and the way Lee's face kept getting pinker and pinker was any indication.

"Uh-hu." He said. He was willing to bet Lee had drugged the poor kid to keep him in bed just for that reason.

Hehe, conspiracy theories were fun.

He was about to say something about the color of the other boy's cheeks when he felt that prickling feeling on the back of his neck again. Turning swiftly, he caught a glimpse of pale skin and dark hair ducking behind a lamp post. Ah-ha!

"Hey Kenta!" He yelled, crossing the street regardless of the traffic signals, flipping off a rather annoyed driver who had to stop short to avoid hitting him. He made it to the lamp post in time to catch the boy heading in the opposite direction. Catching the retreating boy's arm, 'Kazu pulled him up short.

"Hey, wha 'cha running away for?" He asked cheerfully. Kenta turned wide, startled eyes on him.

"You can't talk to me here! On the street!" The smaller boy gasped, trying to pull his arm away, all the while giving the hand that held him the same odd look he had been giving 'Kazu's whole body the night before. Kazu just laughed and held on tight.

"Oh 'cummon Kenta, I know the glasses make you look a bit like a dork, but it's not _that_ bad."

Kenta shot him a slightly offended look before finally managing to twist free.

"You-you can't come back to the cemetery any more. It's not safe for someone like you." He mumbled, just loud enough for Kazu to hear him, as if he were afraid of being overheard, not that Kazu could think of anyone who would care.

"What do you-" Kazu started, his voice outraged. How come this short, scrawny little kid could tell him to stay out of the cemetery. It wasn't as if, as had been insinuated last night, he was actually the caretaker's kid. But a call from Takato caught his attention and he glanced behind him to see the other two (who had waited for the traffic light to change) jogging towards him. He turned back to Kenta to finish his rant, but the boy was gone. He frowned in puzzlement, scanning the street for the now no-where-in-site boy.

Funny. He had only looked away for a moment and the boy had completely vanished, as if into thin air. He needed to get the him to show him that trick.

"Damn he's good!" He muttered approvingly as Takato and Lee stopped beside him, both giving him a funny look.

"Who?" Takato questioned. Kazu raised an eyebrow at him.

"Kenta, the boy I was just standing here talking to." More blank looks. Kazu shifted in agitation. He had seen them looking right at them when he had crossed the street. There was no way they could have _not_ seen him.

"Goofy looking skinny kid with pale skin and glasses."

Blank looks.

"Dark hair?"

It didn't seem to be registering.

"Look! I was standing right here talking to him!" He shouted, annoyed. Takato and Lee exchanged an odd look before Takato turned back to Kazu, look morphing into concern.

"Kazu, we were watching you the whole time-"

"Exactly!" Kazu cut him off in exasperation. "So you saw him!"

"Kazu…." Lee began carefully "what we saw was you standing here talking to your self."

Me: Ok, I'll end it there. BTW, what's Kenta and Juri's last names? I need to know for something in the next chapter please……


	3. Chapter 3

'Kazu growled in annoyance at a couple of birds pecking in the dirt next to his table at the open air coffee shop he had opted to eat lunch at. Takato and Lee were loosing it. He had been standing _right there_ talking to Kenta (who, by the way, he was still miffed at) and they had been looking _right at him_.

So why had they told him that they hadn't seen anyone near him? Were they lying to him in revenge for the botched séance the night before? That didn't seem like their style…

Sighing, he reached into his bag for his sketch book, fully intending to draw one of the little birds on the ground, only to have his hand close on nothing but a few pencils. Jerking the bag up into his lap fast enough to startle the birds away, he began to franticly search the blue shoulder bag.

_Where was it?!_

Thinking back to the last time he had had it, the obvious conclusion was that he had left it in the cemetery.

He hoped a bird hadn't crapped on it.

With an exasperated sigh at his own absentminded-ness, he closed his bag and hefted it onto his shoulder, retracing his steps back to the large iron gates.

It only took him a few minuets to find the tree he had been sitting in, but a thorough search of the tree and the surrounding area soon had him in a panic.

He couldn't find it anywhere! Where was it, where was it?!

"Looking for something?"

Spinning around, 'Kazu opened his mouth, fully intending to demand what the other person knew about his sketch book, only to find himself facing empty air. With a puzzled frown, he looked around, but the graveyard was as empty as ever.

The uneasy feeling he had felt earlier when his handkerchief had turned up sans Kenta had returned now, and was growing rapidly.

"It's not here, you know…" the voice continued, once again behind him. Spinning around once more, he found himself facing an older boy with curly black hair and piercing dark eyes. Crossing his arms over his chest to show that he was not impressed with the boy's disappearing and reappearing act, 'Kazu tilted his head cockily to one side.

"Oh really? And you would know this how?" He demanded. The other boy snorted and mimicked his actions, a taunting smirk slipping across his face.

"Because I saw where he put it." he answered smoothly. 'Kazu scowled at him.

"Where who put it?" he demanded. The guy's smirk widened.

"Kenta." he answered. Had 'Kazu been a dog, his ears would have pricked.

"you know Kenta?" he asked curiously. The guy in front of him arched an eyebrow tauntingly.

"Of course I know him. I have every right to know him. _You're_ the one that doesn't and shouldn't." Came the sneered reply. 'Kazu bristled.

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" He demanded. This guy was getting on his nerves badly. First Kenta said that he couldn't come back here, and now this guy tells him that he shouldn't even be talking to Kenta? What, was this some kind of private club that he wasn't privy to or something?

The other just smirked and pointed to his right. "It's over there. Happy hunting!" he laughed as he turned walked off, disappearing form sight behind a crumbling old mausoleum that looked like it was being held together by ivy. 'Kazu raced after him but by the time he had rounded the corner, the boy was gone.

What was it with people and their disappearing acts all of a sudden? Shrugging uneasily, 'Kazu headed in the direction the older boy had pointed him in, figuring he had nothing better to do anyway. As he walked, looking around for the flash of white and charcoal that signified his sketchbook, he mulled over his odd conversation.

The guy had said that Kenta had taken his book. But why would the smaller boy do that? He didn't have a reason to, right? Could the other boy be that mean? Granted, 'Kazu didn't really know the other all that well, so he couldn't say that he was like for sure, but that just didn't seem very…Kenta-ish.

Then again, never judge a book by it's cover, right? After all, people often turned out to be different than others expected them to be.

Looking around, he realized that he had wandered into the plot where he had met Kenta the night before. Glancing around and noting how different everything looked in the daylight, he was about to turn around and find that black haired boy and give him a piece of his mind for lying when something caught his eye; It was his sketchbook, lying neat and pristine against the tombstone Kenta had been sitting on the night before. Breathing a sigh of relief, 'Kazu walked over and picked it up, taking a moment to glance at the names on the dual headstones and give a silent apology to whomever's grave he was standing on.

He froze and did a double take.

Kenta Kitagawa

March 21, 1990-January 31, 2005

Beloved son, he will be missed.

The head stone next to it read;

Juri Katou

October 16, 1990-January 31, 2005

Beloved daughter, she was the angel in our life. We hope she is happy in heaven.

So….Kenta was playing a joke on him after all…'introducing' himself by using a dead person's name. 'Kazu scowled, pushing away the feeling of hurt that revelation left him with.

"Isn't posing as the dead a bit disrespectful, you jerk." he muttered, his jaw clenching slightly. He scooped up his sketchpad and walked swiftly away, leaving the cemetery, opting instead to head back into town and go to the library instead of hanging around any longer. There was less of a chance of him running into 'Kenta,' or whoever the hell he was, there.

'_you know…'_ whispered a small voice in the back of his head as he walked. '_It's not like Kenta is an uncommon name…it's possible that he just has the same first name, and this is all just a coincidence.' _ 'Kazu slowed his walking speed to a slower pace. Yes, that was quite possible. He suddenly felt a little foolish for storming off like that and getting angry, but his pride wouldn't let him go back to the cemetery. Not that day anyway. So he continued on to the library.

The library was also a nice place to go when he needed to relax, but he hardly ever went to the sweeping two story building because, come one! Who wanted to be seen in a place where there were _books_? He had a non-bookworm image to uphold, after all. But today he just felt…library-ish.

So, without his normal hesitation and secrecy, he walked through the large glass double doors into the silent, cool brightness of the library, the glass skylights letting in just enough light and warmth to make mute, grey carpeting and plain off-white walls welcoming and cheerful, instead of dull and drab like they rightfully should have been.

Wandering over to the small reading couch he liked to occupy when he actually went there, he was a little disgruntled to find it occupied by a couple of giggly girls pouring over some magazine that, from the cover, looked to be full of cosmetic tips and models that girls starved themselves to imitate.

Shoving his hands into his pockets with a huffy pout, he wandered over instead to one of the computers and logged onto the internet. After a few minuets of surfing the web and coming up empty of any ideas as to what to do with his free time, he found himself thinking back to the name on the tombstone. Kenta Kitagawa…what kind of person had he been….? How had he died?

Figuring he had nothing better to do, 'Kazu pulled up Google and typed "Memorial Kitagawa Kenta January 31, 2005" in the search bar and hit enter.

The screen flickered and he found himself faced with a page of results. He searched through them, eyes flickering over the summaries under the headings. Several of them were Blogs, and a few simply named the fact that the kid had died, but nothing more.

Finaly, though, he found what he was looking for…he hoped. The summary read "_**Kenta Kitagawa** and Juri Katou were killed….**Memorial** held Tuesday, February 3 , 2005.…"_ Glancing down at the web site URL, he saw it to be a news site. Clicking on the link, he found himself looking at a scan of a newspaper article.

_**FATAL CAR CRASH KILLS TWO AND SENDS ONE TO HOSPITAL**_

_**Sunday, February 1, 2005**_

_**By Marline Davidson**_

_**Late last Saturday night Mr. Katou was admitted into the local emergency room for minor bone fractures and some head trauma. He had been driving his daughter Juri and her friend Kenta Kitagawa home from a student council meeting at about eight thirty when his minivan was sideswiped by an eighteen wheeler, when the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Mr. Katou escaped with only minor injuries, having been thrown from the car when it rolled over three times before hitting a tree on the side of the road. Unfortunately the two children inside ere not so lucky, and were reported dead at the scene. The memorial and funeral for both are scheduled for the third. They are to be buried together at the Silent Wings Cemetery…**_

The rest was just directions to the cemetery (which 'Kazu already knew) along with a picture of the wreck that made him cringe. Seeing that the scroll bar was only partially down all the way, he scrolled down a little further and found another article underneath the first;

_**FUNERAL AND MEMORIAL FOR HIGH STUDENTS TODAY; CLASS MATES VOICE THEIR THOUGHTS**_

_**Tuesday, February 4, 2005**_

_**By Marline Davidson**_

"_Hmmm…"_ 'Kazu thought, _"he went to the same high school as me…"_ This made him all the more interested. If the guy had still been alive, he would have been an upperclassman of his by about a year. The article went on to read

_**Family and classmates gathered at Silent Wings Cemetery to mourn the loss of two young members of our community early yesterday morning. The Funeral and services lasted about two hours, with many family members and classmates paying their respects. "They will be missed." one girl said. "We are overcome with grief." added a family member. **_

_**When asked how the two families are going to cope after this tragedy, they both replied that they will stick together and help one another, as they have both suffered a great and similar loss.**_

_**"We are devastated that those two were taken in such a violent manor." Mrs. Kitagawa said after the services. "They were such happy children too…the best of friends…"**_

"_**I would gladly have taken their places if I could have." Mr. Katou, who had been released from the hospital earlier that morning, added.**_

'Kazu frowned and scanned the rest of the article, but all of the other quotes were from classmates, but all of them said something along the same lines.

_"We will miss them." _

_"They were cool, I had a class with one of them."_

_"I feel sorry for their parents."_

_"I didn't know them to well, but they seemed nice. It's really to bad…"_

'Kazu leaned back in his chair, re-reading the last one. Now that it was brought to his attention that the two went to the same school as he and that they had died a year before he had entered the ninth grade, he was wondering why he didn't have any memory of them, or even of their deaths, considering how quickly news traveled across their school.

"They must not have been very well known…" He said to himself and then frowned lightly.

_All of these people, showing up and saying nice things about them…_ he thought nostalgically to himself. _"I'll bet they all went because they were in the same class. They probably didn't even know they existed until they were dead. If they has known them, they would have had more to say…._

There was a link for pictures down at the bottom of the page. Clicking on it, he was at once confronted with several pictures of a rather nasty looking car crash, a couple of a moderate gathering of people, and of two caskets, side by side. On the next row, there was a few pictures of the double headstone, only this time with fresh dirt in front of it.

Each row had a label, telling what pictures were in what row. The last one consisted of school pictures of the two dead children. 'Kazu scrolled down so that they began to slide into view.

"'Kazu! What are you doing here?"

Jumping slightly, 'Kazu hit the minimize button, turning in his seat to face the owner of the voice.

"Ah, Ryo, nothing." He said quickly, slightly spooked. Being snuck up on wasn't exactly fun. Not only that, but reading about the deaths of other people, people he might have known, or passed in the halls at some point or the other without actually realizing it, had given him an uneasy feeling of nostalgia. These two coupled together was not good for his heart or blood pressure, no sirrie.

Ryo leaned out to look over his shoulder.

"What were you looking at?" The other brunet questioned curiously, spotting the minimized window. 'Kazu shrugged nervously, turning quickly and hitting the exit button. He wasn't really sure why he didn't want Ryo to see the article, but he didn't want him to. Simple as that.

"So…" He said a little loudly and with cheerfulness that was slightly fake. "Didja want me for something, or didja just come over to say hi?"

Ryo shrugged. "Well, I'm bored, Ruki had a photo shoot, Takato and Jenrya had something to do, and you look to be in the same position I am, so I was wondering if you wanted to do something to save me from rotting away from the dullness before Ruki comes back…." he said nonchalantly, shrugging and givein 'kazu a wide grin. 'Kazu binked at him.

"That was a mouthful." He said before shrugging. "Sure, why not? It's not like I have anything better to do."

Grabbing his bag and making sure his little sketch book was inside of it this time, he headed for the door, Ryo trailing casually out behind him.

A/N: Ok, I realize it's been forever since I updated this, but don't be to made at me, I've neglected all of my fics on this sight lately. Sorry. Also, thanks to Manga Girl 08 for giving me the last names of Kenta and Juri so long ago. Sorry this chapter didn't come out sooner.

Also, Oraiste and I are starting a live journal Com for this pairing since I was never able to find one before when I looked. I hope you all come down and make contributions to it, and tell your friends…this pairing deserves it….you know you want to ;D

ALSO! I'm pretty sure I made Ryo ooc, in the last part. Sorry about that. I'll try not to let it happen again….


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